3.3 Declaring Independence
MAIN IDEA
Conflicts between Great Britain and
the American colonies grows over
issues of taxation, representation,
and liberty.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Colonial protests were the first
steps on the road to American
independence.
CA Standards
• 8.1.2 Analyze the philosophy of government
expressed in the Declaration of Independence,
with an emphasis on government as a means of
securing individual rights (e.g., key phrases such
as “all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights”).
• 8.1.4 Describe the nation’s blend of civic
republicanism, classical liberal principles, and
English parliamentary tradition.
• 8.2.1 Discuss the significance of the Magna
Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the
Mayflower Compact.
Daily Guided Questions (DGQs)
1. What did the colonists mean by “No
taxation without representation”?
2. What were the core ideas of the
Declaration of Independence?
3. How did Common Sense and the
Declaration of Independence draw
on British traditions and
Enlightenment thinkers?
WHY SO ANGRY???
• French and Indian War (Seven
Years’ War)- Created large
financial crisis, debts.
-More Taxation (Acts).
• Proclamation of 1763- No
western expansion pass the
Appalachian Mountains.
Sugar Tax, 1764
• Halved the duty (import tax), on
British made molasses.
-By paying a lower tax, there would be
less smuggling, right?
• Placed duties on imports that had not
been taxed before.
• Violators (smugglers) of the tax were
tried by vice-admiralty (single English
judge) instead by a jury in colonial
court.
Stamp Act, 1765
• Imposed tax on
everything printed on
paper.
-passed to finance
debts.
-stamp proved tax was
paid.
-affected colonists
because it directly
taxed goods and
services.
Stamp Act Protests
• Colonists response:
-Samuel Adams
creates “Sons of
Liberty” to protest
and boycott British
goods.
• Parliament
response:
-repealed the act the
following year.
Townshend Acts, 1767
• Taxed all goods imported from Britain to
colonies.
• Colonists responded by:
-(S.o.L) Demonstrating, protesting, and
boycotting. (No taxation without
representation!!!).
• Parliament responded by:
-Stationed troops at major ports to protect
customs officers.
-repealed the act.
Boston Massacre, 1770
• Mob gathered in front
of Boston Customs
House
• Taunts and snowballs
thrown (Blocks of ice,
stones in snowballs)
• British fired and killed
five colonists, Cripus
Attucks.
• Paul Revere
engraved scene, antiBritish propaganda.
Committees of Correspondence
• Discuss threats to freedom, form a
network.
-7,000-8,000 patriots.
• Led to First Continental Congress
-30% Loyalist (pro-British).
Tea Act, 1773
• Parliament passed it to:
-Help the East India Company from
bankruptcy.
-Company didn’t have to pay taxes.
-Everyone (other businesses) else did.
• Colonists responded by:
-Boston Tea Party, dumped 18,000 lbs.
of tea in Boston harbor.
• British responded by:
-Passed the Intolerable Acts.
Intolerable Acts, 1774
• Shut down Boston harbor.
• Quartering Act.
-Placed General Thomas Gage, new governor of Mass.
-Boston placed under martial law (military control).
• Parliament passed it to:
-Punish colonists for Boston Tea Party.
-Control Massachusetts.
• Colonists responded by:
-First Continental Congress (1774), declaration of
colonial rights.
-built up militias, George Washington leads.
• Parliament responded by:
-Marched on Concord to seize illegal weapons, engage
colonists in battle, 1775.
Lexington and Concord, 1775
• The British (Redcoats) are coming!!!
-Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott
-Spread the word that 700 “Redcoats” (British
soldiers) were headed towards Concord on the
night of April 18,1775
• Battle of Lexington.
-Dawn of the 19th, 70 minutemen (militia)
confronted English.
-8 killed, 10 wounded minuteman/ 1 killed redcoat
• Battle of Concord.
-3000 to 4000 militia men
-killed 700 redcoats
-headed back to Boston
Battle of Bunker Hill
• June 17, 1775.
• Actually at Breed’s
Hill, north of Boston.
• Bloodiest battle of
the war.
• Over 1000 redcoats
killed, patriot loss.
John Locke
• Enlightenment thinker.
• Two Treatises of Government, 1690
-Natural rights to life, liberty, and property
-Social contract, agreement people
consent to choose and obey a
government that protected natural rights.
-If that government didn’t that the people
had a right to resist and overthrown that
government.
Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense, 1776
• Create a better society one free of
tyranny (break from the King),
with equal social and economic
opportunities for all.
• Importance of republican
government.
-power is given to leaders, but
power can be taken away.
Declaring Independence
• Congress
-Each colony is to form
own gov.
-Committee to prepare
a formal statement of
separation.
-Thomas Jefferson
chosen to write it.
Declaration of Independence, 1776
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with unalienable rights, that among
them these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness;…”
•“self-evident”, to be understood without proof
•“all men are created equal”, free citizens are
political equals
-did not include women, Native Americans, slaves
-cruel and injustice of slave trade
-S. Carolina and Georgia, take it out or we
will not vote for it
•“unalienable rights", could not be taken away
Dec. of Independence
• Preamble
-Introduction, reasons
for separating with
Britain.
-Government not
protecting their English
rights.
• Natural Rights
-Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness
Cont.
• Grievances Against the King
-List of complaints that the colonies
have tried to remedy.
• Declaring Independence
-Since King George III hasn’t done
anything to help the situation (actually
making it worse sometimes), the
colonies are going to “break up” with
Britain.
Group B
• Read the primary source on page
617, Thomas Paine’s, Common
Sense and answer the questions
at the end.
• Copy and complete the study
guide on page 25. Use pages 5258 in textbook to get the answers.
Group C
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road_q1.
html
•Click on the above website and using
your notes complete at least half of the
game called the “Road to Revolution.”
•The other half is a preview of what you
will learn about the Revolutionary War.